First Attempt Success! Salt-Steamed Crayfish

Name: First Attempt Success! Salt-Steamed Crayfish
Yield: I used an 18cm pot. Adjust as needed.
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: About 10 crayfish (estimate is fine); About 2 ladles of cooking sake; 2 pinches salt (enough to season plain pasta)

ジェシーおいたん @cook_40138607

With a little effort and the courage to eat it! Haha. People used to eat this. It's much richer than boiled shrimp. Surprisingly, it has a lot of views, haha.
The origin of this recipe
I wanted to expand my possibilities... haha.

ジェシーおいたん @cook_40138607

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Ingredients

I used an 18cm pot. Adjust as needed.

About 10 crayfish (estimate is fine)
About 2 ladles of cooking sake
2 pinchessalt (enough to season plain pasta)

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Steps

1

First, catch the crayfish. If they are clean, skip to step 4. If not, go to step 2. If the shell or leg joints are dirty, wash them.
2

Wash them. Wearing double gloves will protect you from getting pinched. Scrub them well. Occasionally, some might instinctively grab your arm...
3

The dirt around the mouth and whiskers won't come off. Since we're steaming them, I ignored it to some extent. If you can see them as food at this point, the process will be quicker, haha.
4

After washing, put them in tap water to purge the mud. They won't die from chlorine. Be careful to prevent them from eating each other. Change the water daily.
5

Purge them for about 1-2 days. As a guideline, the water in the tank shouldn't smell, and there shouldn't be a black line in the crayfish's back vein (visible from the belly).
6

Now see them as food. If you're going to back out, do it now, but if you're committed, eat them all. I put about 10 in an 18cm pot.
7

When you add cooking sake and salt, they might jump. Cover immediately.
8

The only seasonings are cooking sake and salt. Pour cooking sake around the pot twice. Add a generous 2 pinches of salt.
9

I was concerned about the smell and like strong flavors, but if they're fresh and purged well, you can use less salt.
10

They'll make a rustling sound, but shake the pot with determination to cook them evenly.
11

Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes to ensure they're cooked through. Shake the pot to distribute the heat evenly.
12

This should be enough for normal ingredients, but since they were caught in a pond, I cooked them thoroughly. They were still nice and firm.
13

Now just peel them, but they still look like crayfish. Stay strong and enjoy eating them. Eat them like shrimp.
14

Gather your courage and peel the shells. Eating them might change your perspective on crayfish... it did for me, haha.
15

Once peeled, they're just like shrimp, haha. You can eat the heads and claws too, but since mine were small, I used them for miso soup stock.